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Blue Jays 2012 year in review: Season dominated by injuries and players behaving badly: Griffin

The negatives clearly outweighed the positives for the Blue Jays in 2012.

The Blue Jays' offence began to go south when slugger Jose Bautista suffered a wrist injury in mid-July. (Seth Wenig / The Associated Press)

First baseman/DH Edwin Encarnacion had a breakout season in 2012, with 42 homers and 110 RBIs.
(Brad White / GETTY IMAGES)

Injuries to the starting rotation derailed the Jays' season as much as anything else, starting with the strained oblique suffered by Brandon Morrow in early June.
(STEVE RUSSELL / TORONTO STAR) | Order this photo

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, a tale of two seasons for the Toronto Blue Jays.

The key moment when their playoff dreams fell apart occurred over a 72-hour span, during the course of a quickly spiralling-out-of-control three-game set in the Pacific Northwest against the Mariners at the end of July. The Jays descended from a record of 51-50, still confident they’d find the win streak that would carry them into contention, to a 73-89 finish, the club’s lowest win total since 2004.

The best news came in November and December. The disappointing finish had clearly demonstrated to GM Alex Anthopoulos and to Rogers ownership that the Jays weren’t deep enough, especially in the rotation. As the off-season began, the GM promised to add two veteran starters to the top of the rotation. To that end, what began as a preliminary effort at the GM meetings in Palm Springs, Calif., to pry right-hander Josh Johnson away from the Marlins, spun into a 12-player deal that solved the search for two starters, a top-of-the-order hitter and a dynamic bench — all in one master stroke.

Then, not stopping at the two starters, Anthopoulos saw an opening and darted through it to grab Cy Young Award winner R.A. Dickey from the Mets when they were vulnerable and looking to the future. Anthopoulos took a chance, just as he did when he signed Jose Bautista over some people’s doubts. Now he has a $45.5 million five-man rotation that is the envy of the American League. That’s the best of times.

The late-season flame-out — the Jays went 22-39 in the final two months — may actually have helped the team make some tough decisions. If the Jays had finished with even 81 wins, they might simply have pointed a finger at the injuries and tried again with the same cast of characters, the same underlying problems. Instead, hitting rock bottom led to drastic changes.

It’s worth a review. Following is a list of the best and worst of times in 2012, starting with the five worst.

THE WORST OF TIMES

1. Sweepless in Seattle: The gates to Safeco Field opened in the late afternoon on July 30. A wave of blue streamed into the park, trickling across the concourses, filling the aisles behind the Toronto dugout. It was amazing. Hours before the first pitch, thousands of fans in Jays blue had taken over the yard, celebrating a team that was a game above .500 and threatening to contend, given any type of streak. By game time, the invaders from the north numbered over 5,000.

All that energy soon headed south. By the end of the three-game series, the chants of “Let’s Go Blue Jays” had been silenced. “Oh No Blue Jays” was the prevailing sentiment as the tide of blue humanity receded into the night on the heels of a sweep by the M’s. The debacle had shaken the fans’ belief and the team itself, although the clubhouse would never admit it.

It wasn’t just the results on the field that disappointed in that pivotal Seattle series. Jose Bautista, the Jays’ two-time home run champ, had been working hard towards a return to the lineup. He even believed he was on the verge of hitting in the batting cage off live pitching at Safeco, but instead quietly announced to the media that he was shutting it down. Then, in a display of bad karma, Seattle native Travis Snider was pulled from the field during the seventh inning of the opening game and replaced by Yan Gomes. Snider had been traded to the Pirates for Brad Lincoln.

The next night it was Eric Thames’ turn. The Jays seemed to be making it up as they went along. Thames was dealt down the hall to Seattle for rookie reliever Steve Delabar, whose reconstructed elbow still had a steel plate in it. Recall that Thames and Snider had been competing for the starting left-field job at spring training; within the space of 24 hours at the trade deadline they were both gone. The season went dramatically downhill from there.

2. Three men down: Facing the Nationals in interleague play at the Rogers Centre on a Monday in June, starter Brandon Morrow threw six pitches, yielding a leadoff double to Steve Lombardozzi, grimaced in pain, called for the trainers and was replaced, felled by a severely strained left oblique. The Jays’ most electric starter did not return until Aug. 25, a period during which the club went from two games above .500 to 14 below.

Two days later, in the series finale against the Nats, right-hander Kyle Drabek struggled into the fifth inning. On pitch No. 83, Drabek grabbed his arm and called for the trainers after a popup to second base by Ryan Zimmerman. He underwent Tommy John surgery for the second time.

Two days after that, following an off-day to lick their wounds, 21-year-old rookie Drew Hutchison, who had been quickly emerging with an improved fastball and maturity beyond his years, strolled off the mound in the middle of a Hunter Pence at-bat with two out in the first inning. He tried rest and rehab for his elbow, but ended up facing Mr. John and the dreaded Dr. Andrews. Never had the Jays had a week of pitching carnage like that. Only Henderson Alvarez and Ricky Romero survived.

3. From devastating to devastated: How important is Bautista to the Jays’ offence? Even when he was struggling in the first two months of the season, his presence and leadership allowed the Jays to be among the AL leaders in runs scored. On July 16, already bouncing back with 27 homers and 65 RBIs, he launched a long, loud foul against David Robertson at Yankee Stadium. In a delayed reaction, he crumpled at the on-deck circle, grabbing his left wrist, and played just two more games in late August before a third medical opinion led to Sam Fuld surgery to repair a tendon sheath.

In Bautista’s absence, catcher J.P. Arencibia stepped up and began swinging with authority. But 11 days after Joey Bats was stricken, Arencibia took a foul tip off his right knuckle and suffered a fracture that kept him out until Sept. 7. When he returned, he went 2-for-37 before regaining his touch and finishing strong. As if those two injuries weren’t enough, third baseman Brett Lawrie left a game on Aug. 3 against Oakland with a strained oblique. The offence collapsed with three big bats, one-third of the lineup, out of action. Lawrie and Arencibia didn’t return until Sept. 7.

4. The seemingly invisible slur: With things already falling apart on the field, shortstop Yunel Escobar made the ignorant, insensitive, immature move of writing a homophobic slur on his paste-on eye black just before a game against the Red Sox. He believed it was an inside joke. It would have gone unnoticed except for a fan with a camera in the first row at the Rogers Centre, who discovered the offending words when he got home and checked his photos. Escobar didn’t get it.

Escobar was suspended by the team, in consultation with MLB and the players’ association. The Jays organization was further embarrassed at a Yankee Stadium news conference to discuss Escobar’s actions. Manager John Farrell insisted that nobody on the team, either before the game or during it, had noticed the slur. Plus, the Spanish translator supplied by the MLBPA seemed to have graduated from Rosetta Stone U.

The consensus of the Toronto gay community was to move forward and use the Escobar incident as an educational tool. He was traded after the season, but the damage was done.

5. Nightmare clubhouse: It began with Lawrie’s helmet-bouncing assault on umpire Bill Miller after he was called out on strikes during a home game against the Rays on May 15. Lawrie blamed the accident on the unfortunate angle of his helmet spike. However, after the helmet hit the ump, a normal reaction might have been to stop and apologize. Instead, Lawrie continued his nose-to-nose tirade. Four-game suspension.

The Jays, largely due to Bautista’s frustrations at the plate and more near-misses by Lawrie, were fast gaining a bad reputation with umpires. On top of that, they were guilty of numerous baserunning blunders and repeated failures to execute fundamentals. Then came the Escobar incident.

All that led to the final-straw events of the last week of the season, when, in the midst of rumours about Farrell’s imminent departure, veteran infielder Omar Vizquel, in answer to a direct question, harshly criticized the Jays’ laissez-faire clubhouse. Vizquel suggested mistakes were not punished by the coaching staff and that teaching was a four-letter word. Farrell reacted strongly, suggesting that if Vizquel had showed up at the park a little earlier, he might see teaching going on. He was right, but it was not good.

THE BEST OF TIMES

1. Re-Encarnacion of a power hitter: The numbers posted by Edwin Encarnacion speak for themselves, but actually watching him play only added to the impression.

His power was jaw-dropping. In Milwaukee in June, Encarnacion homered in three consecutive games, each round-tripper breaking a tie and giving the Jays a lead. All three were monster mashes, with the thud of one homer off Bernie Brewer’s plastic slide at Miller Park leaving a lasting impression.

In the off-season, Encarnacion had shortened his stroke and changed his follow-through to hold the bat longer with two hands, emerging with a firm grip on 42 homers. All of a sudden, a healthy Bautista-Encarnacion in the middle of the order looks devastating.

2. A Blue Wave on the road: It began during the opening series in Cleveland, with an invasion of young Jays fans clad in the team’s distinctive new apparel. No more of the black and silver that could have belonged to any team in sports. No, the Jays in January had introduced throwback blue with an updated look. By April 7, it was clear this was a hit.

The phalanx of frothing fans followed on through Milwaukee, Detroit, Boston and Seattle. Not to take away from the presence of the older Jays fans, but it’s the enthusiasm of the youngsters that was most impressive. It will surely renew itself this spring

3. Fishing for Marlin: It was important for the Jays to make roster moves to improve team depth and starting pitching. Just as important was doing it early in the off-season to stave off grousing by disillusioned fans: “We’ve heard it all before” . . . “Promises, promises” . . . “The manager bailed and played you, Jays.”

After obtaining Mark Buehrle, Johnson, Jose Reyes, Emilio Bonifacio and John Buck from the Marlins, top-10 free agent Melky Cabrera signed a two-year, $16 million deal and Dickey agreed to a two-year extension, coming over from the Mets to be a part of something special. Would all that followed in terms of building the look of a winner have happened without the early blockbuster? Not likely.

4. Back-to-back blankings in May: It seems like so long ago now, but when starting pitchers Morrow and Alvarez strode to the mound at Angels Stadium and tossed back-to-back shutouts May 3-4 against the powerful Angels lineup, Jays fans were certain the rotation was developing and the team could contend, even in 2012.

Morrow tossed a complete-game three-hitter, with no walks and eight strikeouts, needing only 102 pitches to run his record to 3-1. The next night, Alvarez, 21 years old and with tremendous upside, needed just 97 pitches to beat Ervin Santana, allowing six hits with a walk and three strikeouts. The win moved the Jays’ record to 16-11. Sadly, they never got more than five games above .500 all year. Just 38 days later, the barrage of injuries hit and the rotation became day-to-day to even go five innings.

5: A glimpse of the future: Only in hindsight can the injuries that decimated the Jays be considered a good thing. For the most part, these storm clouds had no silver lining. But as Farrell often pointed out as he pencilled into his lineup wave after wave of not-ready-for-prime-time players, the kids were actually getting a head start on their development, a taste of major-league life.

It was a small blessing, but heading to the off-season, it helped trade partners decide that they could use some of those kids and gave the Jays a better idea of what they actually had. Heading to spring training, that will help the club decide whether certain prospects are ready. An impressive total of 12 players 24 years old or younger saw big-league time with the Jays in 2012.

Clearly, the negatives of 2012 outweighed the positives on the field, but the fans’ focus is on the future, with a smile.

Sure, spending money does not guarantee victory, but Anthopoulos has never wavered from his plan of waiting until he’d built a self-sustaining farm system and had enough competitive major-league parts already on hand before filling in with high-priced help from outside. That has now happened and that bodes well for the Jays’ ability to compete for the post-season in 2013.

History? The last four times the Jays finished with fewer than 80 wins, dating to 1997, the following season the club improved by a combined 43 wins — an average of 10.8 victories per year. That being said, the Jays might be expected to win 84 games in 2013. We realize that’s not enough for a playoff berth, but it’s a start for a fan base reaching for positives. The rest of the wins will be spurred by the addition of all-stars. If they compete, the Rogers Centre will be rocking.

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